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JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

March 6, 2019/in People, Press Release/by Nigel Chell

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record: A record-breaking group of JCB apprentices had two reasons to celebrate at the launch of National Apprenticeships Week on Monday (March 4th). A total of 79 apprentices were awarded their apprenticeship certificates – at the same time as getting coveted contracts of employment with the Staffordshire-based digger maker. The group is […]

ICL’s New Research Project

March 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

ICL’s New Research Project: Producing the top-quality turf needed for high-level sports requires a keen focus on turf maintenance and inputs. All applications of water and nutrients should be optimised to ensure responsible resource-use efficiency. ICL has started an exciting research project exploring the use of wetting agents to further improve water use and to […]

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

March 6, 2019/in People, Press Release/by Nigel Chell

ICL’s New Research Project

March 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

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JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

March 6, 2019/in People, Press Release/by Nigel Chell

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record: A record-breaking group of JCB apprentices had two reasons to celebrate at the launch of National Apprenticeships Week on Monday (March 4^th).

A total of 79 apprentices were awarded their apprenticeship certificates – at the same time as getting coveted contracts of employment with the Staffordshire-based digger maker.

The group is the biggest in the history of JCB to graduate as Level 2 and 3 apprentices in a single year. They received their awards from JCB directors at a special graduation ceremony at JCB’s World Headquarters, Rocester.

JCB has a long history of recruiting apprentices and this year marks 55 years since the first intake of nine completed their training and were presented with their apprenticeship certificates by company founder Joseph Cyril Bamford.

JCB Chief Executive Graeme Macdonald said: “New talent joining the business is fundamental to JCB’s future growth and success; our business is growing rapidly and the apprentices are an important part of our plans for the long term. Over the past five years JCB has invested £30 million into its training programmes with more than 700 new recruits joining the business as apprentices or graduates. Their commitment to learning has been exemplary and their hard work has paid off with the award of full-time contracts.”

JCB Director of Learning and Development, Max Jeffery said: “The apprentices who have been awarded full-time contracts range from age 18 to 38 and include a former professional rugby player, pub landlord and cleaner as well former students from the JCB Academy. The diversity of this year’s graduating apprentices shows this is a great route into a new and promising career – no matter what your background, age or experience.”

Apprentices offered contracts include:

Adam Parkins, 29, from Alfreton, Derbyshire. Married with four young children, he left school aged 16 to pursue a professional rugby career with Premiership clubs Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints, where he remained until he was 27. He is now a welder and assembler working on the iconic JCB Loadall production line, at Rocester.
Wesley Hemmings-Topliss, 19, from Burton. Having studied a BTEC at college, the former Thomas Alleynes High School, Uttoxeter, student found work as an office cleaner at JCB. He saw his friends studying apprenticeships with the company and decided he wanted a career making the machines too. He is now a welder in the JCB Hydraulic Business Unit, at Rocester.
Tom Clarke, 29, from Stafford, a former team leader at Screwfix, Stafford, where he was in charge of almost 100 people. Tom has become JCB’s first Level 2 Health and Safety Apprentice with the company’s Loadall division, at Rocester.

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ICL’s New Research Project

March 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

It is a three-year research project delivered through the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, Lancaster University. The Centre is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and is supporting local sports field construction specialists J Mallinson in collaboration with surfactant specialists at ICL.

Dr Andy Owen (ICL International Technical Manager) has been instrumental in planning the project. “I have known the research team here at Lancaster Environment Centre for a number of years and the chance to collaborate and generate useful research optimising inputs to turf through wetting agent use is invaluable.”

Graduate researcher Vasileios (Billy) Giannakopoulos is working under the supervision of Dr Jaime Puertolas and Professor Ian Dodd. Billy was selected ahead of a number of other applicants to embark on the three-year project and said “I’m delighted to be a part of this project as this kind of research has never been undertaken until now. It is such an interesting and relevant topic, with the potential to make a real difference for turf and crop management.”

The project will be utilising ICL’s H2Pro range of wetting agents which includes TriSmart, AquaSmart and FlowSmart and the research team will be using these products in a series of experiments, both laboratory, glass house and field-based.

A year has already passed on the three-year project and Dr Puertolas believes that some new ground-breaking information could well be on the horizon.

“Understanding surfactants and what they do is a very interesting subject, we normally modify the soil moisture by how we place the water through irrigation type or the frequency of the irrigation application but this is another way of manipulating how the water is distributed in the soil.”

“We hope to generate information which could improve irrigation effectiveness and better understand water and nutrient movement through a soil and uptake by a plant.”

“Working with J Mallinson and ICL is a win-win situation because we can deliver research in our line of expertise but also connect with industry practice; that is really important to us because it covers two of our aspirations – to be more environmentally friendly and to continue to innovate.”

Lana Farren, Research Manager for ICL, believes that the research is being carried out at an incredibly appropriate time. “The world is becoming more and more environmentally aware. The reality is that demand for water is increasing with large volumes being used for irrigating crops and amenity turf.

We also lose a lot of applied nutrients through leaching which can be environmentally damaging. If we can improve water and nutrient use efficiency then ultimately, we are becoming more sustainable.”

Prof Dodd commented “Providing sufficient water for crop production is a major challenge in many parts of the world. Even in the UK it can be difficult to assure this, as crop water use peaks in the summer when water availability in the environment can be limited, as we’ve seen this year.

This project is one of a number that have been funded in Lancaster’s Plant & Crop Sciences research group via the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, and it is heartening to see such engagement between academics and industry to develop real-world solutions.”

Andy feels that as a global supplier of turf and agricultural products, ICL has a certain responsibility to conduct such vital research. “ICL will continue to invest in good quality independent research that helps support our products. We recognise that water and nutrient use efficiency is critical for crop management worldwide, so this research is vitally important.”

“Our wetting agents are used both in sports turf and agriculture and ultimately we want to be able to support the whole range with robust data, so we can market them responsibly.”

For more information about the H2Pro wetting agent range please contact ICL on +44 (0)1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie. For more information about the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation please visit www.globalecoinnovation.org.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

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Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

ICL’s New Research Project

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

ICL’s New Research Project

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

ICL’s New Research Project

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